Before I plunged into sothing I might regret, I took a step back. I had newfound information thanks to [Basic Elental Magic], and I wanted to see what it could be used for.
I spent what must have been a day poking and prodding these "symbols" until I partially uncovered their secrets. It got so bad that even Vee ca to check up on , growing worried that I was truly becoming a hermit. I explained the situation, which was enough to alleviate her concerns.
With that out of the way, I was allowed to recklessly continue my studies, and eventually found out what they were—Mana converters! Yes, this impossibly complex symbol governed an entire branch of magic, and through it, birthed every spell of its kind.
In theory, this ant that if you knew the appropriate symbols, you could cast the spells through sheer force alone. But there was a catch: a natural component was missing from this equation that I eventually concluded must be your affinity.
Without the appropriate affinity, you lacked the proper resource to fuel these symbols and create magic. I theorized that you could likely force it, even without the affinity, but the cost would either be astronomical or the results would be exceptionally subpar.
I took my findings and actually ended up discussing them with Leon, of all people. While he seed to loathe magic for being "unscientific," he apparently couldn't resist contemplating the theories and discoveries I had made.
Leon threw around a lot of terms that must have co from his past world or life to explain the principles behind this phenonon, and after Vee provided so translations, we boiled it down to a reasonable explanation.
The governing magic symbol was a recipe to refine raw Mana into a spell of its type, which was why it was in the center of every spell and fueled the rest of your magical construct. However, the conversion efficiency was based on your affinity, which was where the whole "purity of Mana" thing ca from that I'd heard before.
Leon had likened it to sothing called "petrol" and explained that my absurd affinities must have been like "jet fuel". Then, these governing symbols were the engines, and the spell construct was the vehicle. I hadn't the foggiest idea what he was talking about, but Vee was nodding and humming along in agreent, so it must have been an insightful analogy.
Regrettably, I had none of these governing symbols for any branches of magic that I lacked an affinity for. I attempted to coax Vee into casting a simple fire spell I made for her, but she gave up before even reaching a ten-percent completion of the engine. Leon outright refused, and even though he was interested in expanding his Mana, he wasn't interested in the magical arts.
My only hope is that either I get access to one of these governing symbols through a reward or, by expanding my understanding of my current ones, I learn to create them myself.
I still had Mother's quest to "Continue exploring all avenues of magic," so there was a real possibility I'd eventually get so form of hint or reward.
Okay, let's do it then.
I'd spent enough ti postulating, and now I wanted action. Worst case, I spent so ti grinding out spell levels again, which I could just give to so [Sub-Cores] while I embarked on a journey in [Dinsional Magic].
I deconstructed [Interdiate Elental Magic] and, after losing a significant amount of instilled knowledge, received a bucketload of new information in return. The images I had for my basic four elents were clearer than ever, and the blank converging spots for each interdiate elent were filled in.
I felt like I usually wasn't the type of sli to gaze at pretty art, but this tapestry of the elents weaving together looked glorious. Not only that, but I instinctively understood that this was only a piece of an even grander puzzle.
So this… is the magic system.
Sure enough, with what I now had, I could recreate the spells I had previously. My [Sub-Cores] had the completed blueprints saved, but I felt like now that I had such clear and detailed impressions of the governing symbols, I didn't even need them.
I cast a few spells and confird my suspicions, finding little to no difficulty casting them. The best part was that I hadn't only received the symbols; thanks to the fusion aspect of [Interdiate Elental Magic] and my previous information from [Basic Elental Magic], I could see how the basic elents fed into the interdiate, or how the interdiate broke down into the basics. It was marvelous.
But what about [Chaos Elents]?
I'd made significant progress in that skill due to abusing it to advance my interdiate spells. Even so, I only hesitated for a mont before pulling up [Skill Deconstruct]
Do it!
The skill was gone in an instant, but then ca the information. If a normal interdiate spell was combining two lesser engines into a more powerful one, then [Chaos Elents] was combining any number of engines into a temporary monstrosity. You lost efficiency in the conversion, but the output could not be underestimated.
I initially thought [Chaos Elents] would be a frawork like [Multicasting] that could handle conflicting elents, but I hadn't expected this.
I was addicted to this feeling. The more I discovered, the more I wanted. Before I'd even realized it, I'd pulled up [Skill Deconstruct] again.
[Elental Adaptation] was the next to go; it was a no-level skill, so I didn't fear its loss. Unfortunately, this one didn't hold secrets for the grand tapestry and instead ca with new constructs to handle buffs or enhancents. It was useful, but not what I wanted, and I pulled up the deconstruction selector again.
[Elental Harmony] got thrown in, and to my relief, there was a fraction of information relating to the tapestry since this one dealt with Mana and affinities based on the environnt. Effectively, this gave insight into adapting your surroundings to fuel your "engine".
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
More!
I glanced at my list and shuddered. All I had left was [Elental Shift LV 8], and this caused to waver. This was not an easy skill to level up, and it had taken substantial ti and effort. Not only that, it was a key part of my whole [Sub-Core] plan and aligned with my personas, too.
But it directly involves affinities! Even more so than [Elental Harmony]!
My gut was unfortunately not speaking on this decision. I felt like I had a fifty-fifty shot at this being amazing or dreadful. I genuinely froze, not knowing what to do.
Fine, let's gamble then!
I pulled out a gold coin and flipped it.
Heads I deconstruct, tails I don't.
Whatever the outco, I'd listen to the coin. I watched as it spun in the air and eventually landed, dancing along the surface till it ca to rest.
Well, that's that.
The world went dark.
…
…
…
Did soone hit my core with a sledgehamr?
I woke up from what felt like a coma, my mind felt fragile, and I was accompanied by the migraine of the century. My main body had beco a puddle, but by the looks of things, my [Sub-Cores] had kept the show going despite my absence.
Well, that's good at least… No need to worry, Vee. Now what was I doing…?
I slowly recollected myself ntally and eventually pried myself off the ground, forming a vague humanoid shape. I recalled what I had done and the consequences of my actions.
Information overload, I suppose? Well, let's see what I've got.
Another full day went by just as I attempted to process it. Sylbera inford that Vee was looking for , but she told her not to disturb . I silently thanked her and continued to digest this.
It was a lot, too much in fact. But the more I explored, the happier I felt.
This… Can't I create fake affinities with this?
Yes, [Elental Shift] wasn't the core skill for the Elentalist class for no reason; it made noteworthy contributions to the grand magical tapestry. Not wanting to leave my isolation, I sent so of the information to Sylvester, who discussed it with Leon and sent back their findings.
So I can refine better fuel now?
This was what it seed to equate to from their gatherings. The principle behind [Elental Shift] was to enhance an affinity beyond its normal ans, and now I had the building blocks of that process and could apply it to my elental engines.
For , it would enhance things as per usual, but for soone without the appropriate affinity, wouldn't this be like giving it to them?
Leon had told Sylvester that "zero multiplied by infinity is still zero," aning that he disagreed with my approach. But I felt like nobody truly had zero affinity. If my theory were correct, the biggest issue would be requiring the user to construct not only the governing symbol but also the affinity-enhancing formula.
Who could realistically do that? I don't think a human, or even an elf, would be able to.
I sighed and shook my head. It wasn't like I was planning on gifting magic to the world or anything, but it was still a terrifying thought. To overco the limitations of your birth, you needed to go this far!
Well, at least this ans I might be able to create my own affinities one day? Is the ti sli dream real!?
I chuckled to myself and began a simple experint, starting from my very first elent and magic—water!
To my surprise, with a little bit of [Sub-Core] help, it didn't take too long to have a working model that combined all of these aspects together. The best part was that now that I had the working engine, I could just replicate it for all future spells.
No, I should call it the magic core instead of this "engine" thing. Since who else could do this but a sli and its cores? Hehe…
I plugged the magic core into my trusty [Waterjet] and watched it blast a hole straight through the ground. This was in no way inferior to any of my prior castings, despite lacking any of the aforentioned skills. In fact, I could've sworn it was a bit stronger than previously.
Actually… If I have these, wouldn't I not lose as much of my elental bonuses when swapping to a Riftmancer?
I'd definitely lose sothing; the class system wasn't even in my periphery, and I was still probably only barely beneath the surface of skills and magic right now. Still, if this unexpected boost was enough to compensate for the loss from the class change, even partially, then I'd be a happy sli.
Okay, let's make a magic core for each elent, and then I can finally swap over. But first, let's go show my face to the others, just in case they think I've absconded.
And that was just what I did. I t up with the others and spent so ti with them. Surprisingly, during dinner, Sylbera complained to that she needed to finish the earth and fire magic cores as soon as possible, as they were hindering her work.
Vee was so upset by this remark that she jokingly ordered to get back to work pronto. I could only chuckle in response as it was precisely what I wanted to do.
I wonder if she said that just to get Vee to let go?
I brushed that thought aside and spent every mont of my free ti creating a magic core for each elent. When I had them for the four basics, I moved on to the interdiates and found it was actually easier, thanks to having working versions of the basic elents.
When the interdiate elental magic cores were complete, I thought I was done, but I felt like sothing was still missing. I humd and hawed for a little while until I realized it was the [Chaos Elents].
Perhaps because I already had working versions of every basic and interdiate elent, I found the progress was swifter than I expected. The biggest difference, however, was the results: I found that my chaos elents were far more potent than before.
My first test was a simple frostfire spell, but I felt like its output was doubled at the very least. I created a few more and found similar results, which baffled . I even asked Vee and Leon about it, but they had no idea.
Eventually, while I was completing the last few elents, I had a sudden inspiration.
Is it because the chaos elents didn't have official affinities? But now I've kind of made it official?
I believed I was right, but before I could do anything else, I received a sudden and unexpected notification that pinged through my mind.
I made progress? Is it because I made my own affinity? Or because I solved a lot of the big, magical-system tapestry?
I put my questions aside and looked at the description, hoping it would provide the insight I craved.
Well, talk about vague…
While I was fuming at the strange skill I had been rewarded, I had a sneaky thought co to mind.
Can't I deconstruct this?
I activated the skill and, right as I was browsing my deconstruction list, I received an unexpected notification ping.
Huh?
I pulled up the description to investigate and soon found the change. Right at the bottom, after "This skill cannot be discovered," was a brand-new line: "This skill cannot be deconstructed."
Damn, I should've been faster or sneakier about it.
There was no use crying over spilt milk, so I could only shrug it off. I'd made significant progress, according to the quest description anyway, and I felt like I could finally close this chapter of my journey.
Well, I'll co back to the elents eventually. I still need to get the rest of the default spells at the very least. I wonder if I'll get them when [Elental Praxis] levels up?
But that was a question that would eventually solve itself. I'd been delaying it for long enough, and now I could finally change my class.
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